philosophy n use of reason and argument in search for truth and knowledge of reality, esp. of the causes and nature of things, and of the principles governing existence, perception, human behaviour, and the material universe... [French from Latin from Greek: philos, friend, sophia, wisdom] --Pocket Oxford English Dictionary, Seventh Edition

"A clean slate." "Not quite, General." "Why not?" "We've removed only one layer of government. The top layer, to besure, but only one layer nevertheless. Most of the wastage andsheer bloody-mindedness that we have to eradicate exists at lowerlevels." Wye thought about this for a moment, then nodded. An hour hadpassed since the second broadcast, and the Three had moved backinto the room that the General had awoken in that morning. Was itonly this morning? Shit! I only woke up nine hours ago - seemslike a lot longer. General Absolaam Wye, absolute ruler of theUnited Kingdom, rose to his feet and started to pace the room. He paused in mid-stride, then turned to Deborah, "He's right,isn't he? So what do we do now?" "That's the tough part, Absolaam. We've got some ideas, but ourdetailed plans only took us up to this moment." "For fuck's sake why?" Wye yelled, losing control for a moment. "Because," Graham smoothly interjected, calm as ever, "Because wethought that rigid plans made in advance of knowing the factswould be more of a hindrance than a help." Deborah nodded, "Those kind of plans are what got this countryinto a mess in the first place. We're going to have to learn thefacts as we go along - and think on our feet." The General sat down heavily, sighed deeply, and closed his eyesfor a moment before saying, "I know, you're right. And I'm sorry." The three of them stood, sat and paced that room for what seemedan eternity - but was in fact less than half an hour. Then, "Money!" cried Wye. "What?" "Money is the key," Wye elaborated, "If we can gain control ofthe money supply - I mean absolute control - then the future willbecome one hell of a lot easier." Deborah considered this for a moment then agreed. Graham, too,pondered the idea, and voiced his agreement at the same time ashis wife. "The problem, then," Wye went on, "Is: How do we get control ofthe money supply?" "Not a problem at all," Deborah said. Seeing the two men'spuzzled expressions, she elaborated, "We can do anything we wishright now - while the images of terror from the broadcast arestill fresh in people's minds." "I'd almost forgotten about that damned broadcast," Wye said,"But you're right, of course - though we'll have to act quickly." He strode to the table which dominated the room, and pushed abutton on the intercom he found on it. "Get me the heads of everybank and building society in the country," he said to the privatesecretary on the other end, "And get them in here within thenext," he glanced at Deborah, who showed him two fingers of herright hand in the victory symbol, "Two hours," Wye listened toprotests from the other end of the connection for a bare instantbefore he snapped, "No excuses - just do it. Now."

*****

Two hours later - in most cases, dishevelled from long trips in astyle as far from first class as it is possible to get withoutactually leaving the plane, train or helicopter - the twelve mostfinancially influential men in the country were standing in frontof Wye. They were standing, because Wye had decided not to provide themwith seats. For fully ten minutes, they stood in silence - manywith fear etched on their faces - while the General, seated at thelong table, merely stared at them. Their own glances switched fromWye's left to his right - from Graham to Deborah - and never, everlingered on the General himself. Then, Wye said, "Gentlemen," and they all appeared to tense upeven more than they already had been, "Did you all see my twobroadcasts earlier this evening?" A chorus of nods and murmuredwords of agreement followed. "Do you, then," the General continued, "Doubt my word when I tellyou that you will each do exactly as I say?" This time, the chorusconsisted of shaking heads and murmured 'No's. Wye was reminded ofa flock of sheep as he went on, "So. Deborah?" "You see before you, gentlemen," she began, "One telephone perperson. Kindly lift the receiver of the telephone in front of youand call your banks. All gold, money, gems and other valuables inevery vault in each bank is to be transferred to the vault of theBank of England within the next four hours. Do I make myselfclear?" "But," one brave - or foolish - banker spoke up, "With nocapital, how is my bank to retain its credibility? How can Icontinue in business with nothing to back me up?" Deborah smiled, sweetly, and the banker's heart rose inanticipated reprieve. A hope dashed as he heard her next words:"Would you prefer," she asked, "To lose your business or lose yourlife? "Now - dial." Twelve hands reached simultaneously for twelve telephones. Thefoolish banker's 'phone was the first to be lifted, and his wasthe first set of instructions to be given. "Now, gentlemen," Wye went on, once all phones had been replacedin their cradles, "For the next item of business. Deborah?" "Thank you, General," she replied. Turning to the bankers, shesaid, "Another series of transactions await you in one hour'stime. Oh, and I hope," she smiled again, "For your sakes that youhave not played false with me. I really do." The twelve men wereushered outside, into the corridor, where they were to wait outthe next hour. When all had left, Wye turned to Deborah, and asked, "What secondgroup of transactions, Deborah? I mean - I realise we have to keepthem here at least until we can be certain that all valuables havebeen transferred to the Bank of England, but what else?" Deborah's tinkling laugh sounded once more as she answered hisquestion, "Absolaam, don't you realise that most of the 'money' inthis country is in the form of numbers inside computers? We mighthave transferred the physical stuff - we'll know for sure in fouror five hours - but we'll also have to transfer the accountsthemselves. And for that, we'll require," A knock sounded at thedoor. At the shouted, "Come in!" the door opened, and a trio of twenty-something young men walked hesitantly into the room and stood infront of the General. He motioned to Deborah to handle them, as hehad not expected anything like this at all. "Ah, young men," she began. At their flush, she smiled softly,"We have a little job for you. You are to travel at once to theBank of England, where you will be given full access to the Bankcomputers. You will be separated and will, separately, supervisethe transfer of funds into that computer, in the form of newaccounts and deposits into existing accounts. "No money is to be withdrawn from any account at that bank, andevery account in every machine which communicates with the Bank ofEngland computer is to be transferred into the Bank of Englandcomputer before the connection is severed. Do you understand?" "Yes, miss," the eldest of the three began, a nervous-soundingman of - Wye guessed - twenty-eight years. A lock of his blackhair waved from side to side over his forehead as he talked, andthe General had to suppress the urge to slick the errant lock backinto place. "Deborah," said Ms Greene, breaking - thankfully - the train ofWye's thought. The young programmer flushed slightly, fingered his collar - hewas obviously unused to wearing a shirt-and-tie - then startedagain, "Yes, miss Deborah, but...well, is the Bank's computer bigenough to hold all of these accounts? In memory, that is. And isit fast enough to handle them?" "Good question," Graham interrupted, "I think, General, that itwould be advisable to commandeer one or two of the largest andfastest computers available as soon as possible. In the meantime,however, we'll forget speed and concentrate on memory and diskspace. How much would you say you require, young man?" "Impossible to say right now, sir." "Well, we'll send somebody along with additional drives for themachine, and plenty of storage media - disks, magnetic tape, andthe like - and you can use as much as you feel is necessary. Ordermore if you have to." "Thank you, sir," replied the spokesman. "No need to thank me. You can do that when the job is finishedand you receive a healthy pay cheque. How much would you say, mydear?" he added, addressing Deborah. "Hmmm - say, ten million each at close of contract? Yes - thatseems reasonable enough," the three software engineers's eyesfairly bulged at the sound of the amount offered for such a simpletask. "But," Deborah addressed the young men again, "For thisstage, you will receive one million pounds sterling. At the end ofthe second - and final - stage, you will receive the balance tomake a total of ten million pounds each. "Be warned, however," Deborah said, "that if there is anysuggestion - even the slightest suspicion - that a back door hasbeen left in to the system, or that any of the money in theseaccounts has been stolen by even one of the three of you, thenyour lives - all three of them - will be forfeit. Think of thehigh rate of pay as a guarantee of your honesty." She licked her lips before going on - an action which increasedthe agitation amongst the young men, "Your work will, of course,be checked at the end of both stages by a team of three otherprogrammers. Now, off you go to the Bank of England, and be readyto start work in one hour from now." The three programmers left, and two others, who remained in thecabinet room, relaxed for a short while. The one who did not relaxjust yet was Deborah. As the one of their trio with the mostcomputing knowledge, she accompanied the programmers about theirallotted tasks. An hour later, the bankers were recalled and more phone callsensured the transfer of all accounts to the Bank of England. Fivehours later, every bank in the country was bankrupt, and the Bankof England owned all of their computer-recorded and physicalassets. As an afterthought, Wye ordered that a maximum of only onehundred pounds could be withdrawn from any account each week, tomake sure, as he said, "That the cash doesn't all suddenly vanishoverseas when the moneymen recover, and realise that they've beenrobbed." Then he grinned that patented grin of his.

Chapter Five

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat. "I don't much care where --" said Alice. "Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat. --Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

Absolaam Wye woke up, stretching and yawning. For a moment, avery brief moment, he wondered for a second time where he was.Then the events of the previous day clicked into place, and hefound that he wasn't too surprised when his brain belatedlysupplied him with the answer. In another room, next to the General's, Deborah and Graham Greenealso woke. In their two cases, though, there was no sense ofdisorientation, however fleeting - they knew where they were, andwhy they were there. They looked at each other with adoration intheir eyes. Purely and simply happy to be alive. Gerald, Dot and the twins woke also, to thoughts which they triedto control - wonderings as to what horrors would greet them onthis new day. Gerald rose to go to work, and Dot went to soothethe twins, who had started to cry again. Mrs Wainthrop woke, andjust listened to the tolling bell of her alarm clock.

*****

"Okay, Deborah," Wye said, over breakfast, "Do we have a count ofthe amount of available cash yet?" "Yes, Absolaam," she reached past her bowl of cereal to a dog-eared notebook which somebody had been using as a table mat.Deborah glared briefly at her husband, who had the good sense tolook chastened, before checking in the notebook, "The rough totalis vastly better than I had expected - mainly due to a little ideaI had once the account details started to come in." "And what was that, my love?" Graham asked. "Well, I noticed that - excuse me," she swallowed the mouthful ofcereal she'd been talking around, then took a sip of tea to washit down. "When the accounts started to come through, I noticedthat somebody that I knew was a multi-millionaire had far lessthan one million pounds in his accounts. "So, I asked the lads to flag all accounts which showed a similarpattern - that is, accounts which showed any contact with accountsin foreign banks. I also asked them if it were possible to obtaindetails of accounts in off-shore tax shelters, Swiss banks, and soon. "They couldn't get me anything on Swiss bank accounts, but I didend up with some rather interesting details about other foreignbank accounts." "And then, my darling?" Graham again - Wye simply noddedencouragement and continued eating his fried eggs and sipping thescalding hot coffee he needed before he could start the day. "And then, Graham, I made a large number of 'phone callsand...what's the word? Ah yes...I encouraged - no, I urged - theindividuals involved to contribute the contents of these off-shoreaccounts to the new government. Most of them complied." "Most?" Wye asked, raising his eyebrows in Spock-like surprise. "Yes," Deborah went on, "Only most. About half a dozen offered tocontribute half of those accounts, and one person refusedoutright. I accepted the offers and the refusal, and made noexplicit threats," she laughed at the thought, "I'd guess thatwhen the others find out that they could also have refused withimpunity then they'll feel quite ill." "Upset too, maybe," replied Wye, laughing, "Maybe even demandtheir money back?" Graham shook his head emphatically, "They can demand, but theywon't get it. You made no threats - veiled or otherwise - mydear?" Deborah indicated that she hadn't. "And you recorded thetelephone conversations?" "Of course - do you think I'm an idiot?" "Of course not, my darling, but I had to ask," soothed Graham,"Then that's that - the money was obtained without extortion, andseveral people are even on record as refusing our request for it,with no action taken against them for doing so. Those transactionswill stand up in any international court, or I'm a Dutchman'suncle." Deborah coughed. When Graham looked over, she grimaced and said,"Well, actually, dear, you are a Du..." Graham waved his hand, "Yes, yes - I know. It's just anexpress..." then, seeing the half-suppressed smile on his wife'sface, he suddenly burst out laughing - a way of relieving tensionwhich Wye soon joined them in. When the three of them had settled down a little, Wye said, "Youstill haven't told us the final total, Deborah." "Oh, didn't I?" "I'm afraid not." "Well, bearing in mind the exchange rates at the moment, I makeit the equivalent of roughly eight hundred billion poundssterling, except that it's spread across eleven differentcurrencies." Both Wye and Graham exhaled noisily, "phew," their jaws droppingin astonishment. "Let me," Wye caught his breath, "Let me justwrite that down. Maybe it won't look as big as it sounds." He tookup the notebook, and scribbled, on the back page:

£800,000,000,000

"No - it still looks enormous. Hell, it looks even bigger writtendown than it sounded out loud. All this money was floating aroundin this country?" "Not all in this country, Absolaam. As I said, I recalled a lotof capital - half of our total - from foreign bank accounts. Therewas about four hundred billion in this country, though." "By fuck, you've been busy. 400 billion stashed away in foreignaccounts, did you say?" Deborah confirmed this. "Incredible," bothWye and Graham stared at the figure for nearly a minute beforeDeborah's words began to sink in properly. Graham was the first to realise what his wife had said, "Uh,Deborah. Did you say that half of this money was recalled fromforeign accounts?" "Yes, that's right." "And the money 'recalled' was donated to the new government bythe people you 'phoned last night?" "Yes - I was wondering when you'd realise that," Deborah stoodup, her breakfast completed, "Gentlemen, this new government has astarting bank balance equal to the amount of money that the restof the country has put together. "If we stopped taxation right now, we could continue to run thecountry as it was run under the old government for about eighteenmonths before the money ran out." "Actually, my dear, it would be more like two or three years -maybe longer. You haven't taken into account the potential returnon investments made using the 'surplus' amount," Grahaminterrupted. "True, true - thank you, my husband." "In any case," the General broke in, "It's academic, since wewill not be carrying on as the previous government did. What weneed to do is to use this little windfall," he grimaced at theirony of his own words, "To re-build the major sectors of thiscountry." "Hold that thought for a second, Absolaam," Deborah said, walkingover to the telephones, "while I make a 'phone call." Graham and Wye talked animatedly about the possibilities untilDeborah rejoined them with the words, "Make that one thousandbillion pounds sterling, gentlemen." The two men's jaws dropped again, and beads of sweat sprouted onWye's forehead. Deborah's husband eventually managed to pullhimself together enough to ask, "Why...where did this extramo...how did you manage to get that amount of cash?" Deborah enjoyed her celebrity for the moment in the face of theirrenewed astonishment, before answering, "Our little trio ofsoftware engineers has been working all night. Incidentally," sheadded, "I thought they deserved a bonus for their work, andpromised them an extra five million apiece - is that okay,Absolaam?" "Whatever you say, Deborah," the General replied, "If they'vemanaged to get hold of an extra six hundred billion poundssterling from somewhere then there's no doubt that they deserve amassive bonus. But where did this money come from?" "Basically," she said, "It came from big business - largecorporations, multinationals, and the like. Since I had suchsuccess in obtaining large 'donations' from obscenely wealthyindividuals, I thought that the same tactics, if applied quickly,could apply to wealthy corporations," Deborah smiled insatisfaction - the smile of a successful predator - as sheconcluded, "Apparently, the tactics worked." "It is possible, I suppose, that many of these corporations arehoping that we - as a government, I mean - will feel indebted tothem for their large donations," Graham broke in, "And that we'llremember them when we start handing out multi-billion-poundcontracts." "Hmmm - what approach did you use, Deborah?" "A simple enough approach, Absolaam. I instructed my young men totake the same kind of tack that I used on our wealthy donors, butalso to casually let slip that over the coming several years ournew government would be spending one thousand billion poundssterling on such projects as re-building the infrastructure,financing research projects, and the like. It looks like thecombination of carrot and stick worked." Deborah smiled again, as she added, "I hear that the smallestsingle donation was of ten billion pounds, and the largest wasover fifty billion. I'd guess that the stories I've been hearingover the past decades - about some multinationals having moremoney than most governments - are probably true." "Yes, but I still have two more questions. Firstly," Wye said,holding up the index finger of his left hand, "Do we, as agovernment, in fact have an account holding one thousand billionpounds sterling?" "Yes and no," Wye grimaced at Deborah's words, so she held up herhand to ask him not to interrupt her, "Yes, we have an accountwith the equivalent of one million million sterling, but no, it'snot all in sterling - it's spread over several differentcurrencies: mainly sterling, deutschmarks and yen, but we alsohave smaller amounts of French, Swiss and Belgian francs and USand Australian dollars, along with some South Americancurrencies." "Do you have the figures?" "Not on the 600 billion I've only just heard about, but lastnight's haul included the equivalent of around sixty billionpounds in Deutschmarks, fifty-four in Yen, twenty spread acrossfrancs from various countries, another twenty in US dollars andten in Australian. And, finally, the equivalent of around twentymillion pounds each in Brazilian cruzeiros, Ecuadorean sucres andboth Columbian and Mexican pesos. The remaining fifty nine percentof the cash is in pounds sterling." "How the fuck did you remember all that? No - skip that, stupidquestion," the General laughed. "My next question was going to be:Are we really going to spend those kinds of amounts of money? Butskip that, as well, because it looks like we are - at least, weare if we're going to be rebuilding the infrastructure of thecountry, even leaving aside any additional research budgets. "So," the General summed up, "we're almost back where we started.We've got the money - a thousand billion pounds of the stuff - butwe still have to decide what to do with it. Ideas?" "Just a comment right now, Absolaam," Deborah said, "With thatkind of money, we might just be able to solve all our problemswithout fear of the Half-hour Syndrome. In fact", she added, "Weshould be able to cover expenses fairly painlessly." All three smiled in relief that a second possible cause of revolt- hardship leading to discontent - had been so easily removed.

*****

That night, Dot and Gerald settled down to watch the eveningnews. The lead item, like last night, featured a speech by GeneralWye. Gerald reached for the remote control, ready to change over,but Dot insisted that they watch, saying, "It might be somethingimportant, dear - you never know," She compromised a little,though, by sending the twins off to bed. "Hello again," the General's voice sounded from the televisionset, "Tonight, my news will - hopefully - be a little less..." hesmiled, grimly, "dramatic than it was last night." "Evil bastard - laughing after he killed all those people," saidGerald, before his wife shut him up. Still grumbling, he returnedhis concentration to the television screen. "Earlier today," Wye was saying, "All bank and building societyaccounts were relocated to the Bank of England. This should notaffect you, as private citizens, adversely - you can still useyour old cheque books, bank at the same branch office you used to,and so on. "Of perhaps more interest to you are my plans for the future,"Gerald and Dot leaned forward in their chairs, and Dot turned thevolume up. "In recent decades," Wye said, taking on a more serious tone,"the fabric of this country has been allowed to crumble away. Inconsequence, I am forced to rebuild it all, virtually, fromscratch - and the first things to be rebuilt will be the telephonelines. "These will all be replaced, during the coming year, with fibre-optic cables. The first effect of this will be better 'phonereception. Subsequent," ("What?" asked Gerald. "It means'Following,' dear," Dot replied) "Effects will be more wide-ranging. "All of this work requires people to perform it. All who wish to,and are capable of heavy work, will assist the constructioncompanies in this task. "This work is not compulsory, neither is it paid work. Before youdecide whether to take part or not, however, you should be awarethat those who choose to take part will receive a substantialbonus once the work is completed. The choice, I repeat, is yours. "Now to education. The first stage in my education programme isto ensure that every person of age five years and over is able toboth read, write and type. Day and evening classes will be set upfree of charge for all adults and children who wish to learn oneor all of these skills. "These classes are not compulsory, but I warn you that they willbe free only for the period of the coming year. After that time,literacy classes will - I am sure - suddenly become veryexpensive, and," here, Wye grinned into the camera again, "Veryessential." After a few closing words to the effect that the machinery ofgovernment would - for the moment - go on as it had done before,the General's speech was over with, and the television setswitched off. During the gloom that followed, Dot turned hesitantly to Gerald,and asked, "You know that I know about your...problem?" He grunted, "Yeah - we are married, after all." "Well, why don't you take one of those litera..." "No way. I'd feel like a little kid - not to mention the shame ofit. I don't want other people knowing I can't read - what wouldthey think?" "It's just...well, that General didn't say that everybody had tolearn how to read and write. But, then, last night he didn't saythat everybody had to follow his orders - and look what happenedto the people that didn't." There was a long, silent wait. Gerald shifted uncomfortablybefore saying, hesitantly, "Well, maybe I will wander down tothose classes after all." "Yes, you do that. And I'll go with you, and learn how to type.I've always meant to." She thought for a moment, before adding,"Do you think they'd teach the twins to read and write as well, oris it too early, do you think? Maybe they could do with a headstart..." When the four of them registered for lessons the following day,they found that three years old wasn't too early to start at all.

Disclaimer
The text of the articles is identical to the originals like they appeared
in old ST NEWS issues. Please take into consideration that the author(s)
was (were) a lot younger and less responsible back then. So bad jokes,
bad English, youthful arrogance, insults, bravura, over-crediting and
tastelessness should be taken with at least a grain of salt. Any contact
and/or payment information, as well as deadlines/release dates of any
kind should be regarded as outdated. Due to the fact that these pages are
not actually contained in an Atari executable here, references to scroll
texts, featured demo screens and hidden articles may also be irrelevant.